(Note: The following was
originally published in the Summer 2005 issue of Impact, the newsletter of the
Mackinac Center for Public Policy.)

On May 3, The Mackinac Center
for Public Policy presented Louis Schimmel with its prestigious Lives, Fortunes
and Sacred Honor Award for his unique and exemplary public service. Rarely has
one man done so much with so little in such thankless tasks.

Schimmel was a longtime
executive director of the Municipal Advisory Council of Michigan, a statistical
clearinghouse that tracked Michigan municipal bonds and Michigan municipal
finance. He thoroughly understood the need for market incentives in city
government and was thus well prepared in December 1986 when a Wayne County
Circuit Court judge appointed him receiver for the small Michigan city of
Ecorse, south of Detroit.

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Ecorse had repeatedly failed
to pay its water, sewer and utility bills, and its budget deficits were widely
viewed as irreversible. But in less than four years, Schimmel completely erased
the City’s $6 million deficit by eliminating sinecures, privatizing a number of
city services and creatively renegotiating the city’s employee union contracts.
The success was so stunning that it received regional and national media
attention.

A decade later, the state
appointed Schimmel as "emergency financial manager" of the small Detroit-area
city of Hamtramck, which had amassed a $2.4 million debt that threatened it with
bankruptcy. Schimmel once again fought small-town politics and strong union
resistance in order to privatize services, lay off unnecessary staff,
renegotiate city contracts and end unwise management practices.

Schimmel bore these years of
battling crisis, cronyism and local criticism with implacable determination and
gruff good humor. The Center was thus honored to present him an award fashioned
after the memorable closing line of the Declaration of Independence, where the
signers pledged "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Mackinac Center
President Lawrence W. Reed and an intimate gathering of family and friends
surprised Schimmel with the award at a dinner honoring him. As Reed observed:
"(Louis) Schimmel redefined ‘public service.’ By word and deed, he made it
abundantly clear that it means serving the public, not serving one’s self at
public expense." The idea, though simple and timeless, is revolutionary.

#####

John E. Coonradt is vice
president for advancement for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a
research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. Permission to
reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the
Center are properly cited.